Cancer of the breast is a significant health problem because of the usually fatal results if it is not treated in time to prevent metastatis or spread of the cancer to other parts of the body. Because of the severe consequences, the most prevalent treatment is a radical mastectomy entailing removal of the entire breast including lymphatic vessels and adjacent axillary lymph nodes under the arm, through which, if not removed, the cancerous cells can easily spread throughout the body, and sections of the arm and chest muscles beneath the breast. Less radical treatments may also be used such as a "lumpectomy", where only the tumor and immediately surrounding tissues are excised, or a modified mastectomy, where less surrounding tissues are removed than in a radical mastectomy. Such treatments may present greater risk of recurrence of the cancer. All of these treatments may be combined with post-operative radiation therapy, chemotherapy or hormone treatments to prevent recurrence.
Breast cancer is also known to strike men. However, since the vast majority of victims are women and because the shape and size of a woman's breasts are considered important in many cultures, much of the creative activity designed to benefit post-mastectomy patients has focused on cosmetic aspects. Thus, silicone implants were developed to be used in surgically reconstructed breasts and have become a subject of current controversy as to their safety. Numerous prosthetic garments have been developed to conceal the absence of one or both breasts. One such, among many, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,915.
A radical mastectomy, because of the removal of muscle and lymph tissues in areas having large concentrations of nerves, results in severe and long-lasting post-operative pain. Mobility of the adjacent arm is greatly impaired and movement is painful, even during sleep. Sleep is disturbed. Normal functions which are not usually physically demanding, such as steering a car, may be painful due to the problems of resting the impaired arm in a comfortable sustainable position. Without denigrating the contributions of those who have developed post-mastectomy prosthetic devices, it is believed that too little attention has been paid to the development of devices to alleviate the pain associated with a patient's efforts to function normally after undergoing a mastectomy.
However, one such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,420, issued Mar. 16, 1965, to Mazzoni and Taylor. That patent discloses a vest-like garment made of a single sheet of material which is resilient in more than one direction, such as knitted jersey, constructed for the most part using expansible stitching such as zig-zag machine stitching. The patent also shows the use of pockets over the breast sites to accommodate a breast which has not been removed or a prosthetic pad to simulate the appearance of a natural breast, as the case may be. The advantage of this disclosure appears to be to minimize discomfort caused by pressure on the skin and particularly on incision sites of non-resilient fabrics and rigid seams between different portions of prior garments The removable pads used are purely cosmetic.
The present invention by contrast focuses on alleviating more than merely the pain arising from skin tenderness. In addition, this invention minimizes pain arising from the subcutaneous aspects of the surgery including internal sutures, removal of internal structures, rearrangement of remaining structures, particularly muscle tissue, and post-operative fluid drainage.